The orecchiette Baresi

An ancient story of love

When you plan a road trip to Puglia, and you think about what to eat for lunch, what is the first pasta dish that comes to mind?
Orecchiette pasta with turnip tops, such questions!
(Surely you'll think of potatoes, rice and mussels, or meat sauce, or a plate of brasciole with sauce after that; but we'll talk about that in other articles don't worry😉)

By now he has been known to set foot in the "heel of the boot", return to his home with at least 5kg more of happiness.

Surely you also remember the viral videos of the women in Bari Vecchia, busy processing durum wheat pasta with impressive speed.
Watching them work almost enchants you, the artistry of how they move their hands and the watchful gaze checking that every single orecchietta comes perfectly imperfect.

Because the beauty of these handmade products is just that, every single piece created is never the same as the previous one... a bit like small works of art.

But why is orecchiette the most used type of pasta in Apulia?

Thanks to the testimony of Nonna Rosa (my grandma❤️), I can tell you a little story she told me while talking about her mom. Back in the day we did not have all the entertainments we have today, neither could we afford to make elaborate lunches all the time. Added to that was the fact that there were almost always at least 3/4 children in the house, with large families even more!

My great Nonna Francesca aveva avuto 5 figli, a cui doveva badare, dar da mangiare ed intrattenere. Spesso li portava nel suo negozio di fiori in via Imbriani a Bari, e i bambini l’aiutavano ad irrigare le piante e a preparare i bouquet, sopra tutto mia Nonna Rosa adorava quel negozio e ricorda i momenti trascorsi li con molta joy and nostalgia.
In fact, she learned just by making bouquets, to make many small handmade works with ribbons and bows.

But when everyone was home the time seemed to never pass, and so my Bis Nonna would put the children to prepare the orecchiette baresi.
She would prepare the mass for him ready to be processed, and thus began the "assembly line.
Those who rolled out the mass, those who prepared the "serpentello" (i.e., the strip of dough), those who cut the chunks, and those who formed the orecchietta with the help of a knife with a rounded tip (safety was quite questionable at the time). And that's how the children spent their afternoons, between one orecchietta and another the mothers could relax.

In short, orecchiette is history, which we will carry on forever along with our Pugliese pride. I recommend that if you ever meet someone who has never tasted orecchiette, don't turn him away as if he had the bubonic plague, accompany him to the first pasta factory you find, go home and make him the best tomato orecchiette you know how to make.
Because let's remember, cooking and a passion for food is shared with EVERYONE.

Article edited by: Giorgia Loconsole